UM Womens BB: Dont lose Saniya Chong!

this is an open call-out to the womens basketball team: do not lose Saniya Chong!

I have tried on multiple occasions to (in compliance) contact our womens recruiting staff to tell them that one of the top HS players in the country is a High Honor student who will look her best in maize and blue..........and now her "top 4" list is published in the local papers and it includes Ohio State (as well as UConn, Marylnad and Louisville.

Saniya Chong is a 5' 9" guard from a suburb of New York City who is incredibly good.......much better than another local girl who started at guard as a freshman for west virginia. Chong recently went to a big tourney and scored 53 or her teams 79 points.....with Geno Auriemma in the front row. Shooting, passing, rebounding, defense- she excels (and dominates) in all.

I cannnot imagine seeing her in scarlet and gray., and if that happens, she will get plenty of ink on this blog as she torches us.

It's highly unlikely that Michigan will go after any more guards in the 2013 class. Barnes Arico recently got commits from two guards (Siera Thompson and Danielle Williams), one of whom may be just as good as Chong if not better. Shannon Smith is also supposed to arrive in 2013 after transferring from UNC through a junior college. There's actually another 2013 guard who committed to Borseth, who so far seems to be sticking with her commitment. There were two more guards in the 2012 recruiting class.

On a more general note, I'll never understand people who obsess over one particular recruit. One player is not going to make or break a program.

But certain players can make a program in basketball for at least a few years. Griner, Maya Moore, Candace Parker...those players dominated the game and were the main reasons their teams won championships. Granted some of those teams had other talent around them, but a player of that quality at UM could turn the program around...Chong is not that player, but it can happen at this level

You make a good point, but those are extremely rare players, and Chong certainly isn't in that category, as you say. One recruiting service has her as the #25 player in the 2013 class, which doesn't put her in that category. Even if she were ranked #1, she's never expressed any interest in Michigan, so why obsess over her?

Considering that all those players went to teams that had won national championships within a few years before their arrival, we're not going to get a player like that in the current state of the program.

Saniya Chong may be a great player but who says U-M hasn't reached out? Is she a closet Michigan fan waiting on an offer or something? Given that our new coach came from St. Johns I am sure she is familiar with the New York recruiting scene and isn't overlooking anyone. If this is just a random talented player then there could be any number of reasons why U-M isn't among her top schools.

Barnes Arico definitely knows her as she visited there (St Johns) earlier. Barnes Arico evidently is handling this her way and feels that UM either does not have the space for her, or that for one reason or another it’s pointless to recruit.

How about I pay a visit to Chong on behalf of all Mgo members. I can give a passionate speech about what it takes to be a Michigan Man, or Woman. Then when things start getting "weird" and I begin to sob and beg for her services (on the bball court!), I will be asked to leave.

I know a few people who work in the athletic departments for different sports at different schools (namely ND and U of M). They have told me a few stories about crazy people who, despite knowing very little about what actually goes on, will try to unsolicitedly recruit or recommend recruits to a program. They tell me about how these people bug them constantly because they have somehow gotten it into their delusional head that they think their opinion of these athletes outweighs what the coaches or even what the athletes themselves believe as to if it will be a good fit or not.

To put it simply, there are reasons athletes and teams don't pursue each other, and both parties don't need, want or care about the opinions of an overzealous fan. There are also reasons why fans are fans, and coaches are coaches. Congratulations, because you sir are a shining example of one of the crazies I've heard about in these stories.